Three Decorative Considerations When Working With Area Rugs

If you think you're artistically challenged but find yourself a pro with area rugs decoration, your self-confidence just needs a little boost. Here's one fact you should be smiling about: Working with area rugs requires of you the same kind of creativity and artistic genius sported by interior designers! Still unconvinced? Read on, because you'll be amazed how you're actually and subconsciously weighing the following considerations every time you work on your area rug decoration project.

1. FUNCTIONALITY. Art is always a combination between form and function. When you're working with area rugs, you're not purely focusing on aesthetics but you're also pondering upon the usefulness of that area rug. You try to pinpoint the exact purpose of the rug: whether as a center piece, as an item that diverts the attention of your guest from a mysterious area in your home, as a tie that holds together various elements of the room, as a protection for the wooden flooring, or as an instant heater for the living room.

2. COLOR. The world will be dull without color, and working with area rugs is no exception to this generalization. In fact, the rule of thumb for choosing the color of your rug is to strike the sweet spot between contrast and blending in.

Your area rug should contrast with the color of your floor, walls or room. This means that when you're working on a pastel-painted room, you should go for dark-colored area rugs. Balance this contrast with an attention for color that blends with the furniture, and you'll create a masterpiece. The lightness or darkness of the color is not the heart of the issue here, but the tones of the furniture. This means that when you have a pink sofa, the right choice would be a rug with purplish hues or other shades that belong to the pinkish, purplish or reddish gradient.

3. DEFINITION OF SPACE. Again, when you're working with area rugs, the stand-alone look of the pieces is not your only concern. You too are weighing the decorative value of the space that the area rug helps to define. Generally, you're thinking in terms of the size and shape of the area rug and their effect to the overall atmosphere, ambience and accessibility of the room you're decorating.

When used as a floor cover, area rugs either completely shroud the whole floor or show the uncovered area whose sides must be exposed equilaterally (e.g., from each edge of the rug, the length or width of the exposed hard flooring should all share the same measurement such as five or ten inches). When used as a center piece, area rugs may be fashioned lopsidedly. Here, you enjoy a great deal of artistic freedom to let the area rug catch a guest's attention or to use the area rug as a conversation starter.

Of course, aside from functionality, color and definition of space, there are other decorative considerations that you might have already thought of every time you work with area rugs. Enjoy exploring your creative side, because decorating with area rugs will continue to bring out the artist in you!